Using Windows Sandbox to Test Software and Websites

Transcription

So there’s this feature built into Windows called Sandbox. In my experience, most people don’t know about this, but it’s such a useful feature that I have to spread the word. So what Sandbox does is it lets you test out new software or visit sites in an environment where you don’t really put your computer at risk, but yet… you’re using your computer. So let’s take a look – I’ll show you how that works.

So to turn this feature on, you have to click the start button, and you can search for “turn”, then you’re going to select where it says “Turn windows features on or off”. Let’s click that. You’re going to get a prompt to enter admin credentials – you just have to do that. And then when this loads, just scroll down and go to where it says Windows Sandbox – “Enables the dependencies required to run Windows Sandbox scenarios”. So you check this off, you click OK, then you’ll get a prompt that you have to reboot once this thing is done searching for required files. Now it says “Applying changes”… and we have to reboot.

After rebooting, let’s go straight to the start button and type “Sandbox”. Here we’ll see Windows Sandbox, this is the new option, we just turned it on in Windows – so let’s go ahead and left-click this. Just a word of warning, the first time you launch this, it will take a bit of time – subsequent launches will be quicker. That’s what happened in my experience. So here we have Windows Sandbox loading and we’ll see what it’s like in a moment.

Hm? Seeing double, here? Yeah, well that’s because it’s a virtual machine… so a virtual machine is just a computer running within another computer. So in this case, this Windows Sandbox window, here, contains another copy of the Windows operating system that we’re currently using, but it doesn’t have anything installed beyond what comes installed by default. So for example if I click the search here and look for Edge, Edge is installed. Okay? But I actually go and look for Chrome, Chrome is not installed. Because that doesn’t come installed with Windows by default.

So basically what this thing is, it’s like an incognito tab for a computer, so in your browser when you pop open an incognito tab, or private tab, just to test something, visit some sites that you don’t want to be remembered in the history, well, you know you can close those windows and then the browser kind of forgets about it, right? Well, this is the same thing, except it’s in Windows! I feel like I’m repeating myself here, but essentially, it means that if you install apps here, or if you visit sites here, within this Sandbox, the second you close this window, this X here, “Are you sure you want to close Windows Sandbox? Once Windows Sandbox is closed all of its content will be discarded and permanently lost.” Now that’s powerful. We don’t really need it – for visiting sites, because we have browsers that have that nice feature, you know?

But when it comes to installing applications, let’s say I want to test an application, but I don’t want to install it on my real computer because I don’t know if I’m going to keep it. Applications install files, they install folders, they sometimes play with the Registry. If I’m just going to try and then ditch it, I don’t want my computer to remember that – I don’t want it to – I don’t want to trust that the vendor is going to uninstall things properly – I’d like to vet it first. And Windows Sandbox is perfect for that.

So I’m going to press “Cancel” here, and then I’m going to go to File Explorer, then to Downloads… now keep in mind, I’m on my actual computer right now, right? Here’s the setup for Opera – Opera is a browser I used a long time ago, and I haven’t used it in a while, so let’s say I want to try it, right? So to try it, I’m going to copy this file – from my actual computer – I did CTRL+C here – I’m going to click into the Sandbox window, and I’m going to do CTRL+V. So Opera pops up here. I’m going to close this Downloads window – so now Opera’s setup is on the Windows Sandbox desktop. I’m going to double-click that thing… and we’re going to install it as if it’s our computer. I’m going to just click “accept and install”, I’m going to say “Accept” here… so now I’m playing around with their little installer here, I’m just going to say “dark” because that’s the only right answer, right? You know, I’ll just say later, I’ll just skip ahead to the browser.

And here’s Opera. So let’s go to google.ca – for the sake of comparison, I go on my actual computer and search for Opera. Do I have it? Nope, I just have the .exe that I downloaded, right? So where I do have it is on the Sandbox – so again, if I press this, type Opera… Opera Browser is, in fact, installed. Okay? So let’s say I use it, I don’t want to keep it – as I’ve explained a few times already – just press this, the X, and then click OK, that’s it. There’s no trace of Opera on my actual computer other than the download.

I’ll include a link in the description so you guys can read more on this feature. And if you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out, I’m here to help.